With Herro out, Heat wants, needs an aggressive Lowry: ‘He knows his aggressiveness is important’

Miami Heat starting point guard Kyle Lowry has done a lot of things well this season.

Lowry ranks first on the team in deflections (16), first in loose balls recovered (9), first in charges drawn (5), fourth in contested shots (29), first in assists (42), first in potential assists (78) and the offense has scored 6.8 more points per 100 possessions when he has been on the court this season.

But the Heat wants and needs more from Lowry, 37, especially with leading scorer Tyler Herro out. Herro will miss at least the next two weeks after sustaining a Grade 2 ankle sprain in Wednesday’s win against the Memphis Grizzlies that kicked off a four-game trip for the Heat.

“At this point in his career, it’s all about winning,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Lowry. “That’s what I really love about Kyle. He’ll sacrifice points, he’ll sacrifice stats. He does so many other things that impact winning. With that said, I don’t want him to be an afterthought, either. His aggressiveness and finding those moments in between where he can create some chaos is one of the greatest strengths that he’s had over the course of his entire career.”

With the Heat set to continue its four-game trip against the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday at State Farm Arena (7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun), Lowry is averaging 6.9 points on on 5.8 field-goal attempts and 4.4 three-point attempts per contest through the first eight games in his 18th NBA season. The last time Lowry averaged fewer than seven points per game in a season was in his rookie season in 2006-07 with the Memphis Grizzlies when he played in just 10 games, the last time he averaged fewer than six field-goal attempts per game in a season was in 2008-09 and the last time he averaged fewer than five three-point attempts per game in a season was in 2012-13.

Lowry has also recorded a usage rate (an estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while on the court) of just 10.6 percent this season, which is the lowest usage rate among those who have played in at least one game for the Heat this season. That would also go down as the lowest single-season usage rate of Lowry’s NBA career.

“Those guys have high usages,” Spoelstra said, referring to the Heat’s leading trio of Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler and Herro. “But Kyle is smart and he knows his aggressiveness is important to our team. The aggressiveness comes from the attacks, getting in the paint. But also being a recipient behind the three-point line and aggressively hunting those open catch-and-shoot threes. That’s really important for our team. It’s part of his brilliance. He’s been able to find ways to be effective on the ball or off the ball, and that’s important for our team.”

Lowry became more aggressive after Herro exited Wednesday’s win over the Grizzlies early because of his ankle injury, finishing with season-highs in points (17), rebounds (11), assists (9), field-goal attempts (11) and three-point attempts (7). Lowry closed just one assist short of his 22nd NBA triple-double.

“We’re going to need more of it. Not just for [Wednesday],” Spoelstra said when asked about Lowry’s aggressiveness after the Heat’s win in Memphis. “He was assertive, he was aggressive on his catches at the three-point line but also his catch-and-gos getting into the paint. With Tyler out, we don’t know how long that will be. But Kyle is going to have to be really aggressive and give us some other options to be able to play some pick-and-rolls for him to create and get into the paint and do what he does.”

After stepping in front of Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James to take an important charge with 1:57 to play in Monday’s home win over the Lakers, Lowry offered insight into the passive offensive approach he’s taken early this season.

“At the end of the day, we try to make winning basketball plays and that’s all I’ve tried to do in my career,” said Lowry, who is due $29.7 million this season in the final year of his three-year, $85 million contract. “On this team, I have to do the intangibles. We have great scoring and great basketball players, so my job is to do the small intangible things.”

But with Herro out for the next few weeks, more will be needed from Lowry. Even when Herro eventually returns, a more aggressive Lowry will be expected.

The Heat enters Friday with the NBA’s fifth-worst offensive rating this season, scoring 107.5 points per 100 possessions.

“We’re still going to go through Jimmy and Bam,” Lowry said of how Herro’s absence affects his own role within the Heat’s offense. “For me individually, I’m just going to play my game and be a little bit probably more aggressive in pick-and-roll situations and get myself downhill a little bit more to get the guys easier looks and give them rest when they need it. But we’ll see what happens. I can’t tell you exactly what’s going to happen right now. The game will tell me what to do.”

Considering Lowry is shooting an efficient 40 percent from three-point range and 50 percent on catch-and-shoot threes this season, more outside shots from him could help lift the Heat’s offense.

“While we’re going to Jimmy and Bam and Tyler quite a bit, it’s vital that Kyle is an aggressive part of our offense as well,” Spoelstra said. “I think once we get that all on the same page, our offense can really take a big step forward.”